GUD BLOG: SINGLE POST
You Will Like Cauliflower Now
Cauliflower is one of those foods that a lot of people in their 30s seem to have loathed as a kid, right alongside brussels sprouts, beets, cabbage, and the others in the Pantheon of Vegetables Rejected by Parents in the Eighties. My mom thoughtfully coated her oft-steamed cauliflower in generous doses of butter (then margarine, then “Smart Balance,” then… well, you get the idea), so I never hated it – but I never really liked it.
Until a few years ago.
My friend Noelle has written about a similar transition she made as a result of some cauliflower I made at a dinner party about a year back, and I have to say, that recipe is still one of my own favorite ways of preparing it. I decided to make it tonight, so despite our somewhat unintended decision to not frequently do recipe write ups here, I’m throwing down a recipe post.
Ingredients
- Shocker, I know, but you need a head of cauliflower
- A tablespoon or three of capers
- 1-3 medium sized cloves of garlic to taste
- 2+ tablespoons olive oil
- 2-3 table spoons white balsamic vinegar… or not.
Note: Any white vinegar can do here, but the higher the acid flavor, the more you might need to cut back on it or add more oil to diminish the intensity. I’d even so far as to add a pinch of sugar if it seems too bright. - Salt and pepper
Cookery & Shit
- Fair warning: I don’t generally measure anything except when baking or making ice cream, so the quantities here are kind of made up.
- Pre-heat the oven to 450 F
- Cut or pull the cauliflower apart into florets. Not too small, or they just get soggy between the long cooking and the dressing later.
- Toss it in olive oil inside a baking pan of some kind until gently but entirely coated.
- Roast the veggies for about 15 minutes or so, pull them out, toss them around a bit, and get them right back in there for another 10-15 minutes.
- While that’s cooking, mince the living shit out of that garlic. I mean, cut that up like the garlic ran over your dog or your sister or something. It’s not getting cooked, so fineness is key. And use less if you don’t love garlic. (Duh.)
- Mix the garlic in a bowl with the remaining olive oil and the vinegar. It should be a bit acidic but, especially if using the balsamic, very round in flavor. This part is really just a balancing act, and you need to balance it to your taste.
- Mix in the capers. I use a fairly immodest palm full of the little guys because the briny flavor is what actually makes this whole dish go. But whatever you want.
- Season the dressing with salt and pepper.
- When the cauliflower’s done, toss it with the dressing.
Words of caution: (a) Don’t toss it too much because the capers will fall to the bottom of the bowl, and you want to EAT THE CAPERS because they are DELICIOUS and (b) don’t use all the liquid dressing if it looks like it’s too much. I mean, that’s obvious, but still. Soggy cauliflower is sad cauliflower. - Serve it up to your guests, who will probably take one little floret just to be polite, and then they’ll eat it, say nice things to you, and take more. (If that doesn’t happen, you have quite probably screwed the whole thing up.)
I wouldn’t be so brazen in extolling the virtues of this super simple cauliflower dish except that: (a) Noelle and about 4 other people really, really seemed to like it, so I know I’m not alone, and (b) I realized in trying the cauliflower at Girl & the Goat that the principle behind this is really quite sound: roasting earthy veggies and giving them bright accent flavors kicks ass. Mine is nowhere near as good as Stephanie Izard’s, of course (she puts pickled peppers and mint in it… mad genius) but it has the same general idea behind it. And it’s a good fucking idea.
Hope you actually enjoy it as much as I do! Now I’m going to finish my delish Beaujolais. How’s that for a Wednesday?
2012.02.08 Evan Hansen at 8:54 pm
This entry was posted in GUD Blog and tagged food, recipe, vegan, vegetables. Bookmark the permalink.
3 Responses to You Will Like Cauliflower Now
Evan – Your writing voice makes me chuckle. Thanks for the recipe – much better than the ranch dressing slathered version I grew up on!
The only way my mom could get us to eat cauliflower as a kid was by smothering it in Velveeta. We’ve come a long way, baby.
My current favorite version is the one in this post:
http://mllenoelle.wordpress.com/2011/09/26/first-dinner-married/
with the addition of a little bacon. Cumin & coriander are pretty magical with cauliflower, too.
Next on my agenda is to play around with some sort of creamy roasted cauliflower soup.
Cauliflower’s just an awesome base for spices, herbs, and piquant things of all kinds. Olive oil, salt, and… whatever. Delicious and (not that I generally care) vegan friendly. Crazy good.
I’ll be curious to see how your soup turns out, Noelle. I don’t make much soup beyond pretty utilitarian wintery stuff. I’ve had some awesome cauliflower puree in pork dishes at restaurants, and it strikes me as a similar flavor. Delish.
Also, Kristin, thanks for the compliments!